hello, i'm carl nasman. after months of stalling, the us house of representatives will finally vote on an aid package for ukraine, along with several other bills, including funding for israel and the indo—pacific. house speaker mikejohnson had delayed bringing legislation to the house floor — amid republican opposition to funding for kyiv. his new proposed foreign aid package splits funding for israel, taiwan, and ukraine into three separate bills, with $61 billion in aid for ukraine and regional partners, $26 billion in support for israel, and $8 billion for taiwan and other us allies in the indo—pacific region. us presidentjoe biden has signalled his �*strong support�* for the ukraine bill — saying it will �*send a message

to the world'. meanwhile, on wednesday, a russian missile attack killed at least 17 people, in the northern ukrainian city of chernihiv, while more than 70 others were injured. and — president zelensky, has again called for ukraine to get the same international military support, as israel. our correspondent on the ground, james waterhouse, has more. it has been a day of chaos in chernihiv where people have been diving for cover. missile attacks come with little warning here. you might hear a siren but disclosures will soon follow. why? this because it is a 70 miles from the border with russia and while chernihiv is farfrom russia and while chernihiv is far from the frontline, it is still subject to russia's continued strategy of targeting ukrainian cities in the hope that the population's morale will be quashed to some degree. we are seeing a well rehearsed routine of rescue teams trying to get to people under the rubble but there really is, the

civilians, no escaping russia's continued invasion. what is interesting is that president zelensky of course has condemned russia that he has also taken aim at his own western allies for not giving him his words, the sufficient air defences needed to prevent this attack from happening in the first place. he has watched events in the middle east where israel, which also is not a member of the nato alliance, where its own allies have rallied behind it and helped it repel a huge drone attack by run over last weekend —— iran. british and us countries have actually taken them out. they say they couldn't do that with ukraine because it would lead to a world war. president zelensky is asking is why ukraine can't have the same. you will also be hoping to try and pull his own allies onto the same hymn sheet. not least with continued air attacks on russia as they target the

energy infrastructure but of course russian forces are continuing to advance taking square kilometre after square kilometre of ukrainian territory. kilometre of ukrainian territory-— kilometre of ukrainian territo ., , territory. james waterhouse there. earlier, my colleague sumi somaskanda sat down for an exclusive interview with the ukrainian prime minister denys shymal. we saw today the news the speaker of the house mike johnson really of the bill for supported funding for ukraine. more than $61 billion of support. would you think about this? , ., ., , this? first of all, they give havin: this? first of all, they give having me _ this? first of all, they give having me here _ this? first of all, they give having me here today. - this? first of all, they give - having me here today. ukraine is continuing fight for freedom and democratic values. we continue _ and democratic values. we continue to protect european borders. — continue to protect european borders. the united states is one of— borders. the united states is one of the biggest of our support and investors in ukrainian economy and a ukrainian economy and a ukrainian defence capacities. we are — ukrainian defence capacities. we are waiting so much for this draft _ we are waiting so much for this draft law— we are waiting so much for this draft law in one or other

conditions which now are discussed in congress so we will be — discussed in congress so we will be very grateful if it will _ will be very grateful if it will be _ will be very grateful if it will be approved on saturday. we are — will be approved on saturday. we are waiting for so much and especially— we are waiting for so much and especially our people on i'm imagining you are watching closely _ imagining you are watching closely the vote on saturday as well _ closely the vote on saturday as well. , , ., . closely the vote on saturday as well. , i. . ., , well. did you receive any assurances _ well. did you receive any assurances that - well. did you receive any assurances that this - well. did you receive any assurances that this billl well. did you receive any i assurances that this bill will pass? assurances that this bill will ass? ~ assurances that this bill will -ass? ~ . assurances that this bill will ass? . ., , ., assurances that this bill will ass? ., ., , pass? we had some conversations toda . pass? we had some conversations today- some _ pass? we had some conversations today. some conversations - pass? we had some conversations today. some conversations will. today. some conversations will will have tomorrow. all of the partners, or the congressmen, have very careful optimism for saturday so we share this optimism and we need this money yesterday not tomorrow, not today but yesterday. we need this support, military support, yesterday, because the situation on the frontline is difficult enough. we need the support from our biggest partnerfrom united states. at partner from united states. at the same time, there are some

republicans here in washington who are sceptical stop they don't want this bill even to be brought to a vote what has your message. iiii brought to a vote what has your messaue. ~' . brought to a vote what has your messaue. ~ ., ., message. if ukraine will fall all the global— message. if ukraine will fall all the global system - message. if ukraine will fall all the global system will. message. if ukraine will fall| all the global system will fall and all the world would need to find and look into new system of security, or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars and at the end of the day it could lead to third world war. so our mutual task is to protect democratic values, to protect existing, after the second world war, global systems, after the second world war, globalsystems, global after the second world war, global systems, global security systems, and break long—term and sustainable peace on european continent stops over russia must lose this war and the aggressor should be punished. and only these factors will lead us to the

sustainable and long—term peace. i sustainable and long-term eace. , ., ., ., ., , peace. i 'ust want to follow up on that, peace. i just want to follow up on that. we — peace. i just want to follow up on that, we saw— peace. i just want to follow up on that, we saw republican i on that, we saw republican congressman nicole say last week that he thinks that russia propaganda —— mccoll. he thinks that members of his party are repeating the propaganda. what do you think of that? ladle do you think of that? we shouldn't _ do you think of that? we shouldn't forget - do you think of that? - shouldn't forget that russia is leaving more on ukraine on the ground but russia is leading war with the civilised world, with western countries, in the multidimensional, propaganda, the information space, so in ukraine we have war on the water, the ground in the sky. all of this now brings us to this obstacles when we should

understand that this information and propaganda is influencing here in the united states and many people, such as in ukraine. social we should count on this and we should make our work, we should fight against this absolutely ardent —— unprovoked illegal action by russia. -- unprovoked illegal action by russia. ~ ., ,, ., -- unprovoked illegal action by russia. ., , ~ russia. we saw a russian strike in chernihiv _ russia. we saw a russian strike in chernihiv that _ russia. we saw a russian strike in chernihiv that killed - russia. we saw a russian strike in chernihiv that killed at - in chernihiv that killed at least 17 people and your president recently described the situation in dramatic terms. he said ukraine,", will lose the war if ukraine —— is the world doesn't act. he said that your forces ran out of missiles. that does sound dramatic. how do you describe the situation on the front lines? ., ., , , , ., lines? unfortunately, russia continues — lines? unfortunately, russia continues its _ lines? unfortunately, russia continues its terroristic - continues its terroristic missiles and drones attack day by day, night by night. today in the morning, they attacked

civilian infrastructure — hotels and houses, civilian houses, and 16 people were killed by russians stop 65 people were seriously injured, four children among them. this is, once again, another russian military crime in ukraine. we understand the situation on the frontline is difficult but the most important message, we are not exhausted, we tired. is natural because this is, we are waiting for ammunition to continue ourfight. ladle waiting for ammunition to continue our fight. we did see senior ukrainian _ continue our fight. we did see senior ukrainian officials - continue our fight. we did see senior ukrainian officials who | senior ukrainian officials who spoke anonymously to political and they indicated they think the front lines in ukraine could collapse this summer when russia is expected to launch an offensive. it is a difficult question but how close do you think ukraine is to actually possibly losing this war? ladle

possibly losing this war? we are fighting _ possibly losing this war? - are fighting for our lives, for our homes, for our land, our families. sol our homes, for our land, our families. so i can't even imagine that we will lose this war. the support of all the civilised world is on our side. we have absolutely encouraged to go in to liberate our lands and we have everything we need. we need more ammunition, more web —— more weaponry and we will roll in and liberate me to —— metre by metre our land and our c and —— metre by metre our land and ourcand in the —— metre by metre our land and our c and in the end i believe we will win this war together with our allies, our partners, together with united states and european union.— together with united states and european union. your president is also calling — european union. your president is also calling for— european union. your president is also calling for more - european union. your president is also calling for more air - is also calling for more air defences saying this is absolutely critical and he pointed to the way that israel was able to ward out and attack by air by a run. —— was able to ward out and attack by air bya run. —— iran. what do you think needs to happen most urgently to turn the tide?

priorities. you are absolutely right. we have seen how our defence should work to protect human lives. first of all we need air defence. it is crucial now. we need more air defence missiles and more air defence systems to protect ukrainian cities, to protect civilian infrastructure. don't let russians destroy our economy and push our people towards the next wave of migration of the refugees so this is number one, critical priority. the second very important priority is ammunition for artillery. this is something we are waiting on the frontline, what our guys and girls are asking us for and they say if we have enough, if it is balanced with russia, we will prevail. and the third very important thing is f—16. we should protect our sky because now russia is

prevailing in the sky. they use only 300 airjets but anyway prevailing in the sky. they use only 300 air jets but anyway we have no—one. we need f—16 and this three priorities are very important. this three priorities are very important-— this three priorities are very imortant. , . , , ., important. defence experts who soke to important. defence experts who spoke to the _ important. defence experts who spoke to the bbc— important. defence experts who spoke to the bbc said _ important. defence experts who spoke to the bbc said that - important. defence experts who spoke to the bbc said that they | spoke to the bbc said that they believe russia's objective right now in this conflict is to create a sense of hopelessness in ukraine to convince the west that this war is no longer worth it to support. do you think that is what russia is trying to do? thank you for this question. i think that russians are doing this since the first day of this since the first day of this full—scale war. they use all possible ways— propaganda, disinformation, internal and inside influences inside of ukraine but i think that nothing can break ukrainian will to win this war, to liberate our land, to protect our families so i liberate our land, to protect ourfamilies so i think liberate our land, to protect our families so i think that it is impossible to win the war when you are aggressor and

impossible to lose the war when you protect your families, impossible to lose the war when you protect yourfamilies, your land. it is enough ukrainian power and the ukrainian moral power and the ukrainian moral power to go — we need weaponry, ammunition and we will do our job. ammunition and we will do our 'ob. ~ , . ~ ammunition and we will do our 'ob. ~ , ., ~ , ., job. prime minister, thank you so much for— job. prime minister, thank you so much for the _ job. prime minister, thank you so much for the conversation. | so much for the conversation. thank you so much. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk. members of the house of lords inflicted a second defeat on the government's plans to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. peers backed an amendment that would exempt afghan soldiers who served alongside british forces from being sent to the east african nation. the bill will now be sent back to the house of commons for further consideration. the scottish government is set to ditch its flagship target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030. the final goal of reaching net—zero by 2045 will remain — but the bbc understands the government's annual climate

targets could also go. ministers have have been told that reaching the target by the end of the decade is unachievable. hugh grant has settled a privacy case against a british newspaper publisher. the actor claimed journalists from the sun used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house. news group newspapers had denied wrongdoing. grant said he'd been offered an enormous sum to stop the case going to trial — but insisted he'd been forced to accept the money. you're live with bbc news. returning now to a busy day on capitol hill. and the democratic—controlled senate has dismissed the impeachment case against homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas. on wednesday, in a party—line vote delayed by several procedural objections, the senate swept aside the two articles of impeachment that alleged mayorkas mis—managed the us southern border, wilfully refusing to comply with the law and breached public trust.

in february, mayorkas became the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. democrats have condemned house republicans, saying the procedure was used to solve policy disagreements. republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell warned that dismissing the charges so quickly sets a dangerous precedent. we have set a very unfortunate precedent here. this means that the senate can ignore, in effect, the house's impeachment. it doesn't make any difference whether our friends on the other side don't think you should have been impeached or not. he was. for more on all these developments — from impeachment to foreign aid — i spoke to claudia grisales, a congressional correspondent from npr. thank you very much for being here. let's start by speaker johnson unveiling a separate foreign aid bills. how much support do you think there is a

house for these bills and what are the chances they might pass? are the chances they might ass? . , are the chances they might ass? ., , ., ., , ., pass? that is what remains to be seen- _ pass? that is what remains to be seen- we _ pass? that is what remains to be seen. we are _ pass? that is what remains to be seen. we are already - pass? that is what remains to l be seen. we are already seeing a lot of objections from multiple conservative members of the republican wing in the house and sojohnson is really going to need help from house democrats to push this legislation through. it is possible he can get it through that it could be a really ugly fight for him to get that done. why do you think so many republican members of the house, and these are politicians from johnson's own party, so against some of these bills? especially when it comes to foreign aid for ukraine. right, ukraine is probably the most divisive of all the issues he is looking at this week in terms of rolling out these bills to aid our allies, our us allies. so ukraine has always been very divisive, especially for the more conservative wing. they have made arguments that they have received enough aid, that it needs to stop and that is the red for many of them

when it comes to this dispute, is that they do not want to see additional aid centre ukraine at this stage.— at this stage. there is a fourth bill _ at this stage. there is a fourth bill here. -- - at this stage. there is a j fourth bill here. -- sent at this stage. there is a i fourth bill here. -- sent to fourth bill here. —— sent to ukraine. it includes things like seizing russian assets to help pay for the conflict in ukraine. there is a measure that would even lead to them banning, potentially, of tiktok. talk to us about this kind of grab bag here.- tiktok. talk to us about this kind of grab bag here. yes, it is ultimately, _ kind of grab bag here. yes, it is ultimately, when _ kind of grab bag here. yes, it is ultimately, when you - kind of grab bag here. yes, it is ultimately, when you put i kind of grab bag here. yes, it| is ultimately, when you put all this together, it is quite the grab bag. and it is illustrative of how much johnson has so many different factions to please within his own conference. he has such a tight margin stop by next week, he will be down to one member in his conference that will hold this margin in this chamber. so it is a very, very tight push for him in terms of trying to get all the votes he can in the republican conference, so that is why you will see elements such as tiktok in there, and an effort to try and address the border to try and address the border to some extent. he is trying to put in as many sweeteners as

possible to get as many republicans on board as possible. i5 republicans on board as possible-— republicans on board as ossible. , ., ., possible. is there another sweetener _ possible. is there another sweetener in _ possible. is there another sweetener in there - possible. is there another sweetener in there that i possible. is there another - sweetener in there that there is a lot of objections here that there is actually two republicans at least now that have said they would support a vote to oust speakerjohnson. do you think i could leave down this path? it do you think i could leave down this ath? .., do you think i could leave down this path?— this path? it could very well cost him — this path? it could very well cost him his _ this path? it could very well cost him his job. _ this path? it could very well cost him his job. it- this path? it could very well cost him his job. it is- this path? it could very well cost him his job. it is very l cost him hisjob. it is very reminiscent of what former house speaker kevin mccarthy based when he made a deal, for example, to raise the debt limit and keep the government open. it did cost him hisjob. so we could see that with johnson because we have one republican who started this push recently, marjorie taylor greene of georgia, who started the initial steps for what is a so—called motion to vacate and now she has someone who is joining forces with her, thomas massie, another conservative republican from kentucky. marjorie taylor greene has not taken the additional steps to force the vote for this motion to vacate that we could very well see that happen if ukraine aid is on the house floor. the

other big _ aid is on the house floor. the other big news _ aid is on the house floor. the other big news of _ aid is on the house floor. the other big news of the day, the impeachment trial in a sentence of secretary homes —— homeland security alejandro mayorkas. if you blink you might have missed it, but two in the last couple of hours. how do you think might —— how do you think this may change the process of impeachment going forward? it could be a more regular event at congress. we are seeing both parties look at it as a new tool that they are using for the opposing party and so with alejandro mayorkas, that was very tough impeachment to get through the house even, two tries, it only passed by one vote by republicans. they barely got it out but it was a very big statement on their part. they don't have enough votes to impeach president biden at this stage. this is the closest that they could get to impeaching an official in the biden administration. it says a lot as the future of congress. this is where we got

to, we could see a lot more impeachments.— to, we could see a lot more impeachments. looking ahead now, in terms _ impeachments. looking ahead now, in terms of— impeachments. looking ahead now, in terms of the _ impeachments. looking ahead now, in terms of the situation | now, in terms of the situation at the border stop what happens next, now that this impeachment is kind of over do you think congress can come together and really address that with some sort of likely not.— sort of likely not. they have been so _ sort of likely not. they have been so many _ sort of likely not. they have been so many attempts - sort of likely not. they have been so many attempts this sort of likely not. they have - been so many attempts this past year to try and address the border. we have seen them work on a strong proposal for several months, we rolled out in the senate after senate republicans have been asking for a plan and when it was rolled out, within a couple of hours they were members of the republican conference on the senate side shooting it down and so that's a very good example of how water policy has become such a controversial issue and also we should note it is an election year and republicans are using this as a cudgel against democrats and they need theirs when they are on the campaign trail.-

on the campaign trail. claudia grisales, npr _ on the campaign trail. claudia grisales, npr foreign - grisales, npr foreign correspondence on a very busy day on capital hill, thank you very much. israel's allies continue to take action, after last weekend's attacks by iran. leaders from the european union have agreed to impose new sanctions on iran's drone and missile producers over tehran's unprecedented weekend attack on israel. it comes one day after the us announced its own sanctions on iran. but allies are also urging israel to exercise restraint in its response — as the british foreign secretary david cameron stressed during a meeting with israel's prime minister on wednesday. we wanted to demonstrate our solidarity with israel because it was an appalling attack by iran, but to be clear, we have repeated our view that any response should be smart and designed in a way that is going to limit and try to de—escalate this conflict. nobody wants to see this conflict grow and spread,

qatar's prime minister says his country is re—assessing its role as a mediator between israel and hamas, saying his country had been exploited and abused. he said qatar's efforts were being undermined by politicians seeking to score points, a possible reference to us congress members who say qatar puts too little pressure on hamas. the gulf country has close ties to hamas and its diplomats have been playing a pivotal role — alongside us and egyptian colleagues — in trying to secure a ceasefire and the release of israeli hostages. but doha is now questioning whether the talks will succeed. foreign ministers from the group of seven major democracies have gathered on the italian island of capri for the first of three days of talks. ministers from the us, britain, france, italy, germany, canada and japan are in attendance. and looming large over the meeting is israel's expected retaliation against iran for attacks launched just a few days ago. the g7 nations have pledged support for israel as they weight that response. they've also pledged support for kyiv with the war in ukraine, which is also expected to be a major topic of discussion —

asjess parker reports. it is of course a pretty idyllic setting here on the italian island of capri, but the agenda for g7 foreign ministers is a daunting one. firstly on the middle east, of course, they have been calls for israel to show restraint in response to i run's unprecedented attack on saturday, itself a response to an attack on an iranian consulate. —— iran. and what israel's president visit —— benjamin netanyahu says said is that israel will make its own decisions, despite all the calls for restraint in the reasons —— region. g7 is set to put new sanctions against iran but there is also a move by nations to refocus discussions a little bit on issues like humanitarian aid to gaza, freeing israeli hostages and of

course hopes for a ceasefire. ukraine is also on the agenda here and there is a long debated plan about whether frozen assets will be frozen. that seems to be on the table again as well as calls to bolster ukrainian assets —— defences. the big package from the us, $60 billion worth, still remains stuck in congress. well, this is was what happened when a year and half's worth of rain fell in the united arab emirates tuesday — the heaviest rainfall for at least 75 years. it caused major disruptions at dubai's airport, the second busiest in the world, and problems are still mounting. on wednesday — about 300 flights were cancelled, and hundreds more were delayed. graham satchell reports. the storm that hit dubai was ferocious.

more than a year's worth of rainfall fell in less than 2a hours. these time—lapse pictures show the gathering clouds as darkness falls and the rain begins. the floods left the city completely underwater, with cars submerged and stranded, including some expensive ones like this rolls—royce. some drivers attempted to make their way through, but others were left to improvise as best they could. at the airport, extraordinary images, as planes taxied through what looks like a lake. thousands of passengers — many of them british — have been left stranded, with flights cancelled and delayed. the united arab emirates is one of the driest regions in the world. experts say climate change means we'll continue to see extreme weather like this. dubai is a city of concrete and glass, with little infrastructure like storm drains that could help it deal with a sudden influx of water. emergency services have been busy. this cat — using up one of its nine lives — had a lucky escape. graham satchell, bbc news.

now before we go, we have some wild pictures to bring you from montana — where this elephant stopped traffic on tuesday. viola the elephant escaped a travelling circus — roaming through the streets of butte. the local sheriff said viola was spooked by a car and escaped briefly — but was recaptured without incident. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. slowly but surely, the weather is going to turn a little bit drier, but not an awful lot warmer as we head towards the end of the week. high pressure is tantalizingly close — sitting to the west of the uk, but still far enough away that weather systems can move in around the top of that area of high pressure — bringing cloud, bringing outbreaks of rain. that's exactly what we're going to see through the day on thursday ahead of that cold, frosty start, but we will see

some spells of sunshine. that will hold on across southern counties of england, but further north, it's a story of increasing clouds, some outbreaks of rain. rain for a good part of the day across scotland, some patchy rain for northern ireland. temperatures just a little bit up on where they have been recently, eight to 15 degrees. now through thursday night, we'll see clouds and increasingly light and patchy rain pushing southwards. behind that, a northerly wind kicks in — a mix of clear spells and showers to take us into the first part of friday. so this weather system easing its way through, clearing southwards with northerly winds behind. you can see quite a few isobars squeezing together on the chart, particularly across the northeast of scotland. so here it is going to be windy through the day on friday, particularly around some coasts. it's a day of sunny spells and showers. some of the showers could be on the heavy side, perhaps the showers most frequent across the eastern half of the uk, not as many showers further west. temperatures, six to eight degrees in northern scotland, elsewhere, 11—15 degrees. now into the weekend, this area of high pressure finally makes its move

building across the uk. but brisk winds still affecting eastern coastal counties with potentially quite a lot of cloud, maybe even some showery rain. best chance of any sunshine out towards the west. that's where we'll have the highest of the temperatures, up to around 13, 1a degrees. but it will actually be quite chilly for some eastern parts, particularly for north sea coasts. now, as we get into sunday, again, we'll see clouds, some showery rain perhaps spinning a little bit further west this time. the lowest temperatures always closest to these north sea coast, maybe some places stuck in single digits, 11 for newcastle and for hull. but further west, with some sunshine, northern ireland could see the highest temperatures, 16, maybe 17 degrees. nothing particularly warm in the outlook for next week. 0ften dry, there will be some showers.

boeing under the scanner — the us senate examines allegations of safety failures at the plane maker. and as formula 1 returns to china after a five—year break, we'll explore what's driving the excitement.

hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. boeing has been under the scrutiny at the us senate. the plane—maker faces allegations of safety failures after a series of incidents — including a mid—air blow out on one of its jets. boeing has defended its fleet, saying billions of travellers have flown safely. from new york, michelle fleury reports. this was damaging testimony for the plane maker. boeing engineer turned whistle—blower, sam salehpour, claimed boeing used short cuts to reduce bottlenecks during the assembly of its 787 dreamliner planes. he said he faced retaliation for raising safety issues. and after the threats and after this, you know, it's like, you know, it really scares me, believe me. but i am at peace. you know, if something happens to me, i am at peace because i feel like by coming forward, i will be saving a lot of lives, and i'm at peace. another boeing engineer, ed pierson, accused the plane—maker of a criminal

cover up after a door blew out of a 737 max plane shortly after take—off.